Permanent Revolution

Graham B on Thu 06, December 2007 @ 18:27

Graham B — 2007-12-06 18:27:32

Very interesting article by Fred Moseley. His calculation on the rate of profit in the US as 'approaching the previous peaks achieved in the 1960s' demonstrates a significantly stronger recovery than others - Dumenil & Levy, Brenner and Harman all tend to show the rate of profit as making up only about 50% of its post-war decline. And Moseley's figures here only go to 2004 and we know there has been further profits growth in 2005 and 06. It would be good to see exactly how he calculates the rate of profit as everyone seems to have a different method. I think its tucked away in his book 'The Falling Rate of Profit in the Postwar United States Economy' from 1992.

John Cooke on Fri 07, December 2007 @ 01:36

John Cooke — 2007-12-07 01:36:10

I would agree with Mosely on the restoration of profit rates but I'm not sure the evidence is there for the catastrophic conclusions Moseley comes to. The US economy may well slow down in the coming years but is it likely to come to a stop precisely when profit rates have been restored? The Chinese economy continues to race away, so much so that the Communist Party bureaucracy are considering measures to slow it down. Whilst China is not in a position to replace the US as the engine of world capitalism it could well play the role of a significant compensatory factor for a US slowdown.

beebee on Sun 23, August 2009 @ 16:14

beebee — 2009-08-23 16:14:18

"The US economy may well slow down in the coming years but is it likely to come to a stop precisely when profit rates have been restored?"

haha...nice one...turns out Moseley was exactly right.